Samuel Aughey

Eight times between 1857 and 1875 some
parts of Nebraska were visited by grasshoppers. The greatest
grasshopper raid came on July 20, 21, and 22, 1874, with crops
almost totally destroyed in some areas. The following spring
of 1875 was cold and rainy, which froze the young brood. For
the next two or three years there were some grasshoppers and
the fear of more along the frontier. In response to inquiries
from around the state about the possibility of another grasshopper
infestation in 1877, the Daily State Journal of Lincoln
on May 30, 1877, published an open letter from Samuel Aughey
to Nebraska farmers. Aughey, then professor of natural sciences
at the University of Nebraska, reviewed methods of battling the
insects and assured his readers that there was cause for optimism.

Aughey began by pointing out the role played
by natural predators such as birds and by parasites, which reduced
substantially the number of locusts. Aughey believed the surviving
grasshoppers could be controlled by determined human effort.
"The opinions of my correspondents from various portions
of the State differ a great deal as to the best methods of destroying
the young 'hoppers, but all agreeing that it can and is being
done, . . . Few seem to have much confidence in crushing, except
during the first week or ten days after hatching, when the young
locusts cluster, and it can be done with an old broom or a light
paddle.

"Some report having destroyed a large
part of the locusts that had gathered near their farms by piling
rows of straw, old hay and weeds around their fields and burning
them after they had hatched out and begun to cluster and move
in this direction. Many rely successfully on ditching, to keep
off the locusts that come in from the prairie, or the farms of
careless neighbors. . . .

"The catching of locusts with nets seems at this time to
be the most popular method of dealing with them. Many forms of
nets are used and proposed. . . . The use of crude kerosene is
one of the most effectual agents that can be employed for the
destruction of locusts. It can be used in any way that will bring
the fumes into contact with the young locusts. . . . A few are
using coal tar instead of kerosene. With crude coal oil a gallon
ought to clean out or go over ten acres of ground."

Aughey concluded, "Fortunately, it is now only a question
as to which of all the methods proposed is the best, since the
conviction is becoming more and more general that if the destruction
of the locusts is commenced early in the season, no farmer needs
to lose his crops from them."